Birth Name: A.S. Dileep Kumar

Nickname: The Mozart of Madras

Trade Mark: His music always has a Southern Indian influence.

Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, multi-instrumentalist and philanthropist. Described as the world’s most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and traditional orchestral arrangements. He has won two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, four National Film Awards, fourteen Filmfare Awards, thirteen Filmfare Awards South in addition to numerous other awards and nominations.

Mini Biography

Allah Rakha Rahman was born as A.S. Dileep Kumar on January 6, 1966, in Madras (now Chennai), India, to a musically affluent family. Dileep started learning the piano at the age of 4, and at the age of 9, his father passed away. Since the pressure of supporting his family fell on him, he joined Ilayaraja’s troupe as a keyboard player at the age of 11. He dropped out of school as a result of this and traveled all around the world with various orchestras.

He accompanied the great tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on a few world tours and also won a scholarship at the Trinity College of Music at Oxford University, where he studied Western classical music and obtained a degree in music. Due to some personal crisis, Dileep Kumar embraced Islam and came to be known as A.R. Rahman. In 1987, he moved to advertising, where he composed more than 300 jingles over 5 years. In 1989, he started a small studio called Panchathan Record Inn, which later developed into one of the most well-equipped and advanced sound recording studios in India.

On August 15, 1997, he released an album called “Vande Mataram,” on Columbia/SME Records, to commemorate 50 years of Indian independence. A tribute to the motherland, it featured songs for each of the Indian flag colors. The album was released simultaneously across the world in 28 countries, and Rahman himself performed in New Delhi to a packed audience including the honorable Indian Prime Minister. Over 1.2 million copies were sold in India alone.Also known as the “John Williams” of the Indian Film Industry.
More recently, he worked with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Shekhar Kapur (director of Elizabeth (1998)) on a musical called “Bombay Dreams.” At 36 years old, A.R. Rahman has revolutionized Indian film music and one can only expect this musical genius to reach greater heights.

“Personal Quotes”

“I have rubbed many a producer the wrong way by disturbing the schedule, but it has paid off”.

“I wasn’t too happy with the I-don’t-want-to-listen-to-it attitude of our youngsters towards film music. Why can’t we get our guys to listen to our own music rather than to Michael Jackson? I didn’t want us to lose the market to the West. The music had to be cool and rooted, and yet had to branch out. It was like the wild imagination of a child… but it worked… it did travel beyond Madras and attract people”.

“I’m a deeply spiritual person. Sufism is about love – love for a fellow human, love for all round humanity, and ultimately loves for God. For me, it’s where music and religion meet – at dargahs, you will find qawwalis. That’s my inspiration”.

“It had to be unlike the one played on the radio for years. I wanted a sound that would connect me with people and capture a collective energy.”-About his song Vande Mataram

BOWING to pressure from allies and the Opposition, the UPA government has suspended its decision to allow international supermarkets in the country. Though it did not yield to the Opposition demand for a rollback of the Cabinet move to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, the suspension is expected to continue at least until the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab are over. If the UPA waits for a “political consensus”, then reforms would never happen. A related decision to permit 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail, however, stays.

The biggest gain from the end of the political impasse is the resumption of work in Parliament. The UPA perhaps could not afford to get stuck indefinitely with one issue and allow important pending bills on Lokpal, food security, land acquisition, pension fund, insurance and aviation to remain in the freezer as an adamant and disparate Opposition was determined to stall all legislative work until its demand was conceded. If it was a half-defeat for the government, it was only a half-victory for the Opposition as a “holdback” is different from a rollback.

But the common man is the major loser. There is a strong economic case for allowing global retailers in the country. Half the FDI coming in retail would have gone into building an efficient supply chain to move farm produce from growers to consumers, cutting waste in transit (which is an exorbitant 40 per cent) and softening prices, eliminating exploitative middlemen and bringing international agricultural practices in the country. Foreign retailers who the opposition parties see as a threat are already operating in the country in one form or the other. Indian industry has unanimously and vocally pleaded for FDI, while the Opposition has chosen to back the middlemen, largely responsible for manipulating prices. There is no threat to neighborhood shops as they are easily accessible and economical for day-to-day shopping. The country has missed an opportunity to boost its sagging growth. Politics has, once again, prevailed over economics.

The lokpal & lokayukta bill tabled in the Rajya Sabha was too complex and biased to be passed. The bill should cover all central government employees and public servants right from PM to peon. The lokpal should be selected by a panel of five eminent persons of indisputable integrity, including the Chief Justice of India or his nominee and two intellectuals of high stature. The process of impeachment should be followed for the lokpal’s removal. The CBI should be brought under the lokpal. The Central Vigilance Commission should be disbanded and merged with the CBI. It should be mandatory for states to choose or remove lokayuktas as per the provisions of the lokpal bill.Lokayuktas should send their status reports to the lokpal on a quarterly basis.

Team Anna wanted something else, government doing something else & the opposition play their own music, there are lots of Jockers in the Park right now. We can only hope, it may not take an age to start with so a strong & effective lokpal must be released soon…

In politics, the rise of Suresh Kalmadi has been meteoric with a plenty of inflections. In 1977, Suresh Kalmadi was the district president of Congress’ youth wing and in four years, he was the member of the Rajya Sabha.

The cadet who passed out of the National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla was commissioned as an Air Force Pilot, only to join public life and become the right hand man of the rising star in Maharashtra Politics, Sharad Pawar.

So much so that he was to head the youth wing of Congress when Pawar engineered a split in the grand old party in late 70s.

From then onwards, there was no looking back for Kalmadi, the greenhorn was in the Rajya Sabha at the age of 37 and had established himself as the Pawar’s right hand man.

Kalmadi returned to Congress with Pawar, but this time switched loyalties to become the minister in the Narasimha Rao government.

Since then, the mentor and the protege have not seen eye to eye.

Simultaneously Kalmadi made foray into another field – management of sports associations and was elected the President of the Indian Olympic Association in 1996 and has since then held the post.

He was also elected the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games 2010.

With accusations of mismanagement and bungling flying thick and fast in the run up to the games, the Congress started distancing itself from Kalmadi and post the games, he was asked to resign as the treasurer of the Congress’ parliamentary party, even as the CBI swooped down on him and his associates across the country.

Suresh Kalmadi was arrested on Monday by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for irregularities in a Commonwealth Games corruption case. He has been arrested under Sections 120 B and 420 (criminal conspiracy and cheating) of the Indian Penal Code in the Commonwealth Games Time Scoring Equipment scam.

THIS IS ME …

I have been in the IT sector for about 2 Years now. Started as an inexperienced IT student, and 2 years later, all that changed is the title, but still inexperienced.